As an academic student of Information Security, I am very happy to announce that my school, Capella University, has been named a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAE/IAE) by the National Security Agency (NSA) for the academic years 2007-2012. To earn this status, Capella’s information technology programs, curriculum, and faculty passed a rigorous review demonstrating a commitment to academic excellence in information assurance education.

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I noticed today that the clock on my Windows XP computer was five minutes slow. I always know the correct time because I have one of those “atomic clocks” hanging on my wall that synchronizes itself to WWV every night. My wall clock’s time also matched the correct “Verizon time” displayed by my cell phone. The strange thing was that my Windows XP computer was also configured to synchronize its own clock with an Internet time server maintained by NIST. So why did my Windows XP computer loose five minute?

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There are many bad places on the World Wide Web. And by bad I don’t mean poorly designed Web sites containing pages filled with useless information (my personal Web site would qualify here). I am referring to Web sites that are specifically designed to do bad things to your computer. These so-called malicious Web hosts have but one purpose: to infect your computer with Adware, Spyware and even Malware when you visit their Web pages. There is a lot of money to be made in stealing your private information, tracking what you do on the Internet, and gaining control of your computer. Malicious Web sites are a significant tool used to accomplish these nefarious goals.

I know what you are thinking: “There are a lot of free Spyware and Malware scanners out there. I’ll just use one of those!” Yes, there are many free and low-cost anti-Spyware and anti-Malware programs. However, most virus and Spyware scanners work by identifying malicious software after it has infected your computer (and if you attempt to remove the Malware you can never be sure that it is truly gone). In other words, scanners are reactive to the presence of malicious software on your computer. What you really need is protection that is proactive and prevents the Malware from infecting your computer in the first place. And wouldn’t it be nice if this protection were simple to install, transparent to operate, and be free of charge as well? Have you ever heard of the hosts file?

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After you installed your first copy of Windows Vista, how long did it take you to realize that you didn’t know the administrator’s password? With me it was about a week before I needed to make some changes in the file system. It suddenly occurred to me that being logged in as administrator might make the User Account Control dialog box go away, but I didn’t know the administrator’s password! What the heck is the Vista administrator’s default password?

Unlike the previous releases of Windows, Windows Vista does not automatically create an Administrator account during installation. The theory is that the typical Windows user does not need to run with administrator privileges. Using a non-administrator account will prevent a Windows user from accidentally deleting operating system folder, files, and registry information, and prevent any Malware infecting the computer from doing the same. However, if you really need to run as an Administrator, you can easily activate the built-in Administrator account yourself.

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Desktop computer workstations with 64-bit processors are now commonly found in advertisements presented to home and small office computer buyers. Dell is offering 64-bit desktop systems with Intel Xeon and AMD Athlon 64 CPUs. Apple has had 64-bit Power Mac G5 systems for years and now also offers an Intel Xeon-based Mac Pro with four 64-bit cores. Do-it-yourselfers can easily buy 64-bit motherboards for Intel and AMD 64-bit processors from hundreds of vendors on the Web.

There are also 64-bit versions of Mac OS X (10.5), Linux, and Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista to run on 64-bit hardware. Software developers are now writing true 64-bit programs that can make full use of the resources of 64-bit operating systems, and not simply rebuilding 32-bit programs with a 64-bit compiler. Power, speed, and capacity for the future are all part of the 64-bit promised for consumers.

But, despite the increasing available of 64-bit technology, do you really need a 64-bit desktop computer?

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